[Geysers] Brief geyser report May 5

[TSBryan at aol.com]

Well, yesterday's weather forcast came true. Though only a dusting of snow  
here in West, there was about 2 inches on the boardwalks at Old Faithful. And  
the wind. Whoo! Straight out of the north and very strong. So mostly car 
gazing  and only one brief trip down basin.
 
Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty windy, too, but then some improvement to  
high temps in the 50s by Tuesday.
 
Grotto had been in marathon, certainly the eruption that began at 1307  
yesterday. My guess is that it ended in the vicinity of 0500-0600. Thus, Giant's  
recovery could happen about right now (1300)... but I happily just had a bowl 
of  soup here at home.
 
I did see Oblong at 0820ie, Plume at 0935.
 
I watched the geyser at Black Sand for a considerable time this morning.  Let 
me note that while I saw it doing nothing yesterday afternoon, Barry Leedy  
reports that it was jetting to about 10 feet continuously between 1830 and 1900 
 last evening.
 
This morning it was both on and off for shorter periods than yesterday. All  
the eruptions were bursting, usually not more than 3 feet high but a couple of 
 times hitting perhaps 8-10 feet. Observations lead me to hypothesize two 
things  (I emphasize, hypothesize):
 
1. It might be that a jetting "major" eruption is followed by an inactive  
period. Then a series of bursting minors eventually leads to another jetting  
major, these cycles perhaps occupying a few hours.
2. The jetting vent might be different from the bursting vent -- to me, the  
bursts seem too wide and lazy to come from a vent that can also jet a steady  
stream of 10+ feet for an extended time.
 
Or not.
 
Scott Bryan



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